a conversation in Alawa

so one bloke points to a black cockatoo and asks his mate:

Nganjini-nda ninda?

his mate answers, Ninda-nda lirrarduma

so the bloke says Ninda-nda jijan wulunga-nya

and his mate says, Mandi, ngayi ngaba-nya. Yilunga-nya.

Good one, eh? This is what we (tried to) teach 20 teenagers today. Perhaps they learned something.

Comments

Greg Dickson said…

Here's the translation in English and Kriol:

"what's this?/wanim dijan?"
"this is a black cockatoo/dijan blek kokadu"
"is it your totem/dijan drimin bla yumob"
"no, not mine. It's theirs./najing, nomo bla main, bla alabat"

7:49 pm

Unknown said…

Could you please give me an example of a passive and aggressive sentence in the Alawa language.

English Ex.

Aggressive: She threw the ball.
Passive: The ball was thrown.

Abby ate bananas.
Bananas were eaten.

2:34 am

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